As part of an ongoing defamation lawsuit against a former Pennsylvania pastor, lawyers for Bishop T.D. Jakes had sought more than $76,000 in legal fees due to the defense attorney’s use of artificial intelligence (AI). The team representing Jakes—founder of The Potter’s House in Dallas—said defense attorney Tyrone Blackburn provided made-up quotations and caselaw, which took them 140 hours to wade through and respond to.
Although Judge William S. Stickman sanctioned Blackburn and said the lawyer must be deterred from using phony citations, he deemed $76,000 to be excessive. Instead, the judge ordered Blackburn to pay Jakes’ attorneys $5,000 in monthly installments of $500, beginning next month.
Blackburn, who isn’t licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania, also lost the special permission he had been granted to handle this case. Blackburn had already requested to be removed as Youngblood’s attorney.
Judge Wants To Deter Defense Attorney’s Use of AI
As ChurchLeaders reported, last December T.D. Jakes sued Duane Youngblood, a former pastor and a convicted sex offender, after Youngblood alleged that Jakes attempted to sexually assault him almost 40 years ago. Jakes called the accusations false, damaging, and an attempt at extortion.
Jakes filed the defamation lawsuit one day after experiencing a medical emergency while preaching at his Dallas megachurch. Youngblood’s attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, responded by claiming that Jakes had “faked” that health scare. Blackburn also said the bishop would “regret” filing the defamation suit against his client.
In August, Judge William S. Stickman said Blackburn had committed “clear ethical violations of the highest order” by citing “non-existent quotations” and submitting legal briefs that “repeatedly misrepresent case law.”
Blackburn’s reply to the court included more fabrications. “Attorney Blackburn chose to double down,” said the judge, calling the behavior “very troubling.”
Blackburn said he bought AI software to assist with legal prompts and motions but had to leave the case before he could fix the resulting errors. “AI is taking over the legal community, and I was not immune to the errors that may arise from this new trend,” he wrote. “This had nothing to do with the validity of TD Jakes’ claims, which I wholeheartedly believe are baseless.”
In his Oct. 6 order, Stickman acknowledged that Blackburn is a solo practitioner who sometimes serves indigent clients. But “monetary sanctions are necessary to deter Blackburn from future misconduct,” the judge added. “Any attorney—but especially attorneys like Blackburn with a cosmopolitan, multi-state, practice—cannot plead ignorance to justify their use or misuse of AI in drafting legal documents.”
